Mark Kermode's DVD round-up + Kevin Smith | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/film/series/mark-kermode-dvd-round-up+kevin-smith
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Mark Kermode's DVD round-uphttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jan/22/red-state-bluebeard-dvd-kermode
Red State; Bluebeard; 30 Minutes or Less; The Art of Getting By; The British Guide to Showing Off<p>There are few spectacles more unedifying than that of a director who knows they have made a lousy film blaming critics for their failure. When Kevin Smith's <em>Cop Out</em> was <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/may/23/cop-out-bruce-willis" title="justifiably trashed by critics">justifiably trashed by critics</a>, the director had the gall to liken the reviews for his lame, lazy Bruce Willis vehicle to the playground bullying of a &quot;retarded kid'&quot; (his words, folks). Yet for proof that Smith knew that he had sold out, one need look no further than <strong><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/140028/red-state">Red State</a></strong> (2011, Entertainment One, 18), a low-budget throwback to the indie-spirited glory days of <em>Clerks</em> that marks a sparky – if haphazard – return to form. Believe me, no one who could make a film as ballsy as <em>Red State</em> could be under any illusions about the dreadful balderdash of <em>Cop Out</em>.</p><p>Made for a reported $4m (around a tenth of the cost of its ill-fated predecessor), this raggedy thriller centres on a group of horny America teens searching for online sex and finding instead a renegade fundamentalist church with a torture-porn-inflected take on the evils of fornication and sodomy. At the heart of the madness is Abin Cooper, a zealous monster played with deeply unsettling passion and conviction by Michael Parks who should rightly have picked up some supporting actor nods in the recent rounds of awards ceremonies. With his fire and brimstone rap and sultry southern drawl, Parks is a mesmerising presence, the calm eye of a gathering storm that soon erupts into a gun-toting, Waco-style siege.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jan/22/red-state-bluebeard-dvd-kermode">Continue reading...</a>Kevin SmithDVD and video reviewsJesse EisenbergFilmCultureAction and adventureComedyDramaThrillerWorld cinemaSun, 22 Jan 2012 00:05:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jan/22/red-state-bluebeard-dvd-kermodePRMichael Cooper and John Goodman in Kevin Smith's Red State: ‘anarchic charm’.PRMichael Cooper and John Goodman in Kevin Smith's Red StateMark Kermode2012-01-22T00:05:00Z